The Peculiar Patriot Audiobook By Liza Jessie Peterson cover art

The Peculiar Patriot

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The Peculiar Patriot

By: Liza Jessie Peterson
Narrated by: Liza Jessie Peterson
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Betsy LaQuanda Ross is a self-proclaimed “Peculiar Patriot”, who makes regular visits to penitentiaries in order to boost the morale of her loved ones. When she is not sharing neighborhood updates and gossip, Betsy illuminates our country’s cruel and unjust criminal justice system and its impact not only on the 2.3 million people behind bars, but also their family and friends. Written and performed by the inimitable Liza Jessie Peterson and inspired by her decades-long work with prison populations including on the notorious Riker’s Island, The Peculiar Patriot is a fierce, funny, and shrewd indictment of the systemic inequity within America’s fastest growing industry, tracing its roots from the plantation to the prison yard. Originally produced by the National Black Theatre and Hi-Arts, The Peculiar Patriot will be recorded live at the Minetta Lane Theatre for Audible listeners globally.

©2020 Liza Jessie Peterson (P)2020 AO Media LLC Biographies & Memoirs Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Women Discrimination Thought-Provoking Witty Inspiring Funny

About the Creator and Performer

Liza Jessie Peterson is an artivist: an actress, playwright, author, and poet. Her critically acclaimed one woman show, The Peculiar Patriot, premiered at the National Black Theater in Harlem, was nominated for a Drama Desk award, and received a generous grant from Agnes Gund’s prestigious Art for Justice Fund. Liza performed The Peculiar Patriot in over 35 penitentiaries across the country. She recently performed it at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana for a live audience of over more than 700 men and was live-streamed throughout the entire prison, which is currently in development for a documentary. Liza is author of ALL DAY: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island (Hachette publishing). She was featured in Ava Duvernay’s, The 13th and was a consultant on Bill Moyer’s documentary Rikers (PBS).

Dear Listener,

Why did I choose the title The Peculiar Patriot?
"19th century Southern lawmakers in the Antebellum South referred to slavery as 'our peculiar institution' because slavery was too dirty a word, so they attempted to sanitize it. A patriot is someone who loves and supports their country. This play seeks to re-examine the definition of patriotism as Betsy LaQuanda Ross, our main character, salutes the urban street soldiers who are victims of hyper-policing, racial profiling, biased judicial systems and the failed war on drugs. With 2.3 million people incarcerated in America—a small nation of people—that number is multiplied exponentially when you consider the family and friends who love and support that peculiar nation behind the wall. A Peculiar Patriot is anyone who travels on buses, drives miles upon miles, accepts collect phone calls, writes letters, puts money on the books for their loved ones, and supports a peculiar soldier in a peculiar war against a peculiar institution." – Liza Jessie Peterson, creator and performer of The Peculiar Patriot

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Fantastic. Thank you for this message. The artist is fabulous. I highly recommend to everyone…

Don’t miss this…

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It was an excellent experience. Captivating performance by author. I look forward to learning more from such performances.

Captivating performance

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This story was amazing! Liza has true talent to pull off a one actor play. I felt like I got to know her and all of the characters. It was very true to life with the sound effects; I know from personal experience how it feels to visit someone on the inside. More people need to hear this and understand how the prison system is a business and most of the time Black people are avoiding land mines laid out just for us and keep business booming!

Captivating Educating Sad Hopeful

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I've wanted to educate myself about the plight of being black in America and this one stopped me in my tracks. it is so wrong that the system is so skewed to incarcerate black people under a completely different set of rules than are applied to white people and it's all about money. slavery still exists in America and it breaks my heart to know this.

for a white woman I found this a real eye opener

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Enjoyed it very much. The message was very clear and still cleaver. The performer/ author was incredible.

Exceptional

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